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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

A member of our staff took home an old piano that was sadly beyond repair (insect damage). We had previously disassembled the piano and he recycled it. It's now serving as a planter while pumping out 2000 gallons of water/hr as a fountain!

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Playing since age 21 (September 2010) and loving it more every day."You can play better than BachMach2." - Mark_CCurrently Butchering:Chopin Ballade no 1 in G minor Op.23My Piano Diary: http://www.youtube.com/sirsardonicâ™ª > $

It was a Steinway B from the early 1880's. Termites went all through the beams, the belly rail, the original legs and other parts of the piano. We kicked the project around several times over a decade, but in the end, there wasn't enough to save.

As a fountain, the piano was sealed and painted, fiberglass laid in the keybed and over the keys, so the water rushes over the clear fiberglass. The piano had already been torn down, so plywood was added to hold the plants. There's lots of drainage to slow the deterioration, but at some point it will return to nature.

Some of you may have seen this image before of anonymous piano art in California.It's amazing how strong are feelings are for pianos, even their imagery gives us the hope of all possibilities.

I'm going to call the tree-through-the-piano picture Photoshopped. There are too many straight edges and flat curves that have been carved out of the piano (and against the grain of the wood too!). The black spaces around the tree really give it away.Also, the piano has plants growing directly under it in the shade, but not a few feet in front of it? Unlikely.I think the camera lenses used have different focal lengths too, and the scale doesn't match up - the tree is probably much larger. And I don't want to think about how hard it would be for a tree to grow through another piece of wood.

The waterfall piano looks wonderful. I hope it lasts a very long time. Did you put any additional exterior coating on it after the paint?

The waterfall piano looks wonderful. I hope it lasts a very long time. Did you put any additional exterior coating on it after the paint?

The whole piano was first coated in water sealant. I've seen planters made out of wooden row boats last for decades, but they they don't have any laminated wood...ultimately, we'll see how this project fares.